


True Love (is a Slow Burn)

by myemergence



Series: Buddie First Kiss Week 2020 [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buddie First Kiss Week 2020, Camping, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24502312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myemergence/pseuds/myemergence
Summary: Buck’s eyes dance with mirth before he takes the cool metal stick in his hands. Wordlessly, Buck scoots forward on his chair and shoves the two bright white marshmallows into the flames until they ignite. He pulls them out of the blaze, holding the stick upside down until both marshmallows are completely engulfed in flames. “What the- I thought you said you’d toasted marshmallows before?!”“Uh, this is how you toast a marshmallow.” Buck looks down at the marshmallow, waiting for the fire to dissipate. The outsides of the marshmallows are charred black.“Wow, I feel like I never knew you until today, Buck,” he says. “You’re a monster."**Buck tags along with the Diaz boys for a father/son camping trip.**For the Buddie First Kiss week prompt: interrupted**
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buddie First Kiss Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769923
Comments: 25
Kudos: 296





	True Love (is a Slow Burn)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Nicole for her incredible beta skills (again)!

“Do you need anything else out of the cooler?” Eddie asks as he bends down and grabs a beer for himself as dusk settles in. The campground is quiet aside for a few families gathered around their own fires. “A beer?”

“Nah, I’ll wait till Chris is in bed,” Buck says with a small shrug of his shoulder, relaxing into the chair as he stretches his legs out in front of him.

Eddie chuckles as he glances to where Christopher is reclined in his own camping chair. “Suit yourself,” he says before he settles back into the empty chair beside Christopher. “Hey bud, you ready to show Buck how to make the _best_ s’mores?”

Buck’s not oblivious to the fact that he’s playing the third wheel on a father-son camping trip as the result of a lie. A white lie. A tiny fib, really. He also knows that he should feel guilty about it, at least a tiny morsel of regret. But being in their presence makes it hard for Buck to feel guilty for how he ended up being included. 

Buck shifts in his chair and looks over at Eddie who’s pulled marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate out for assembling the s’mores. “I’ve never actually had s’mores before, but just tell me what I can do to help.”

“Bucky! You’ve never had s’mores?” There’s a tiny shake to his head. He wants to point out that at least this is not a lie, but he decides it would probably be a terrible time to out himself. Christopher’s eyes brighten then. “They’re the best part of camping! And we get to show you.” 

His excitement is contagious and Buck can only grin back at him.

Eddie laughs as he opens the bag of marshmallows before handing it to Chris who takes one and pops it in his mouth before offering a few to Buck. “Is that really your favorite part of camping, mijo? What about sleeping in a tent? Or sitting around the campfire?”

Chris shrugs before he slides the marshmallows onto the forks. Eddie opens up the graham crackers and breaks the wafers in half so that they’re square. “You make s’mores around a campfire. So it’s my favorite because s’mores are the best _and_ we get to sit around the campfire.”

“Very clever, Chris.” Buck laughs.

“Alright,” Eddie says seriously as he slides his eyes over to Buck, “so you’ve never made smores before, do you have any experience toasting marshmallows?”

“Of course I do, who hasn’t toasted a marshmallow before?” Buck scoffs.

Eddie’s brow raises. “Maybe the same kind of person who’s never gone camping.” Buck’s eyes dance with mirth before he takes the cool metal stick in his hands. Wordlessly, Buck scoots forward on his chair and shoves the two bright white marshmallows into the flames until they ignite. He pulls them out of the blaze, holding the stick upside down until both marshmallows are completely engulfed in flames. “What the- I thought you said you’d toasted marshmallows before?!”

“Uh, this is how you toast a marshmallow.” Buck looks down at the marshmallow, waiting for the fire to dissipate. The outsides of the marshmallows are charred black.

“Wow, I feel like I never knew you until today, Buck,” he says. “You’re a monster. Why don’t you just scoop up the coals from the firepit while you’re at it? I’m sure those will taste great in a s’more.” Buck smirks as he looks over at Eddie while Christopher giggles loudly in his seat.

“Can I try one?” Christopher asks.

“Christopher, you know how marshmallows are supposed to be: _golden brown_.”

“Eddie, are you going to deny your son this _experience_?” After another moment of allowing them to cool off Buck slides the marshmallows off of the fork and extends one to Christopher.

“You’ve ruined my son now.” Eddie huffs like he’s pouting, but the look in his eyes is light and fond. Buck pops the marshmallow into his mouth to hide another smile as he looks over at Christopher.

“Well?” Buck asks and Christopher offers a thumbs up in reply.

“You’re going to learn to make s’mores and toast marshmallows, the right way.” Eddie tosses the bag of marshmallows at Buck so that he can take a couple more and replace the ones that he’d charred and eaten. “Chris you wanna put them together for us?” After Chris nods, Eddie gives him the graham crackers and chocolate. He uses a fire poker to adjust the logs so that he has a calm area of coal to use. “Come on Buckley, out of your chair.”

Buck groans dramatically. “Is he always like this?” 

When the response is another peal of giggles, Eddie slides his eyes over to his son. “Christopher,” he scolds teasingly.

“Come on, these marshmallows aren’t going to make themselves golden brown.” 

Buck moves out of his chair and walks over to Eddie with a roll of his eyes. “So it’s your way or the highway?”

“Is that an actual question?” Eddie laughs as he hovers the marshmallows over the coals, and Buck feels Eddie’s eyes on him as he settles beside him. Eddie carefully turns his marshmallows to make sure no side gets too dark.

“This is taking too long,” Buck whines after a minute, following Eddie’s lead and turning his marshmallows as well. “It’s so much faster to just set them on fire.”

“Good things come with time, Ev,” Eddie chuckles. “Haven’t you ever heard of a slow burn?”

The words catch Buck off guard and he lets out a throaty laugh. “Everyone hates a slow burn,” he finally mutters. His gaze flits over Eddie’s face, not missing the quiet way that he’s biting down on his lower lip, or the reserved look on his face. Like he wants to say something but is holding back.

Buck opens his mouth to say something, but Christopher interrupts asking if the marshmallows are ready yet and the moment slips away. “Incoming,” Eddie announces as he stands upright, moving over to Christopher and making the first of the smores.

Eddie and Buck each toast a few more marshmallows until they settle in their chairs, enjoying the s’mores. “These are amazing,” Buck manages before he goes in for another bite of the sweet treat.

“Best part of camping?” Chris asks.

“It’s too early to say,” Buck smiles. “Ask me when we’re packing up tomorrow.” Christopher stifles a yawn, which he tries to hide from his dad. Eddie notices and glances down at his watch.

“Mijo, you look like you’re getting sleepy and it’s past bedtime. Why don’t we take you to brush your teeth and get you all tucked in?”

“But Dad-” 

“I’m making a killer breakfast tomorrow, and we need to be out of here by 11. Which means you have to be up early to eat, yeah?” Buck asks with a smile. Without any further argument they get Christopher ready for bed and tucked in. 

“You gonna turn in early?” Buck asks as he walks over to the cooler and grabs a beer for himself and Eddie shakes his head. “You want a beer?” Eddie folds up Christopher’s camping chair and puts it away.

“Yeah I’ll take a beer,” Eddie says. “And for the record? The last night of camping is the best night to stay up way too late.” He settles back into his chair and takes the beer that Buck offers to him. Buck notices for the first time that, in the absence of Christopher’s smaller chair, the armrest of his chair presses against Eddie’s.

Buck takes a few swigs of his beer as he watches the fire and listens to the light crackling of the campfire in front of them. This is so quiet, so peaceful. Being with the Diaz boys is exactly where Buck feels he belongs most in the world. “He had a great time. You’re really good at this-- at finding these special ways to bond with Chris. He’s lucky to have you.”

Eddie tilts his head slightly to look at Buck. “He’s lucky to have you, Buck. I’m his dad, he’s stuck with me for life.” Eddie chuckles into the otherwise quiet air, a random crackle sounding as embers float up from the fire every few seconds. “You choose to be in his life, in our lives. I’m glad that you came with us this weekend.”

Buck isn’t sure what to say to that. He knows that Eddie’s been trying harder lately to verbalize his emotions instead of keeping a top on them and the difference is obvious to Buck. There’s less tension in his shoulders than there used to be and his smiles reach his eyes again. “I’m glad, too. Even if I did bait you into bringing me.”

“You’d never been camping before, man.” Eddie shrugs like that explains everything. He feels a small twinge of guilt at Eddie’s words.

“This isn’t actually my first time camping,” Buck admits, his voice barely above a whisper before he takes a swig for beer. “It’s my second.”

“But you said-”

“I know. I know what I said.”

“You lied?” Silence falls between them and Buck thumbs over the label on his beer bottle. He drags his fingernail under the label, trying to figure out how to answer Eddie. “Why?”

Buck sighs as he rests his free hand against the armrest. “I don’t know, Eds, I-” he leans his head back then, glancing up at the darkened sky, eyes settling on a grouping of stars above. “I guess I just didn’t think you’d want me to tag along otherwise. This is your time with Chris, and I shouldn’t have tricked you into inviting me.”

Buck hears Eddie shift in the seat next to him. “Is that what you think happened? That you _bullied_ your way into an invitation?” Buck doesn’t move, he keeps his eyes fixed on the star-covered blanket above them, focusing on keeping his breathing slow and controlled so that it doesn’t betray him. “Ev,” Eddie whispers, fingers brushing against Buck’s wrist, sending a jolt through him. “We invited you because we wanted you here.”

“After I told you that I’d never camped before.”

“Yeah, but we were planning on asking you all along,” Eddie says softly, pausing as he seems to be pulling together his own thoughts. “Can I ask you what your first camping trip was like?”

 _They were planning on asking him all along?_ Buck swallows hard as he tries to hold it together. He wonders what exactly he’d ever done to deserve to be treated as an unofficial member of the Diaz family. Sometimes the longing to be a part of their family was all-consuming, and he had to force himself to take a step back. This time he wasn’t able to take that step back, _he was greedy --_ taking more than was his-- and they had planned to offer it to him all the same.

“Nothing like this weekend,” he says, “I went on a camping trip with my ex once, when I was like twenty, maybe twenty-one. We’d been together for a few months and he thought it would be a great idea to go away from the weekend. I’ve never argued with a person more than I did that weekend, ya know? Over putting up the tent, he was miserable about the bugs, sleeping on the floor. I just can’t recall a single happy memory from it. People always talk about going camping with their families. I was always kind of jealous of that because I never had that experience. Thank you for letting me pretend for the weekend.”

“Sounds like it was pretty miserable,” Eddie hums, his thumb brushing against Buck’s wrist again, causing Buck’s heart rate to spike. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t pretended anything this weekend. You belong here as much as Chris and I do.”

Buck's breathing becomes more shallow with Eddie’s thumb resting against his pulse point. The heat feels like it’s going to sear a hole in the skin there. Buck hopes that it does so Eddie can seep into his bloodstream and live there; live in this moment and this feeling forever. He’s afraid to turn and look at Eddie, afraid of what he’ll see if he does. So he keeps his eyes focused on the campfire in front of them, swallowing hard against the feelings pressing harder into his chest that don’t want to remain dormant anymore.

His tongue darts out and wets his suddenly dry bottom lip. Buck feels a languid sweep of a finger against his jawline. He turns his head towards Eddie and looks into his hazel eyes, realizing his face is only inches away now. “E-Eddie,” Buck’s voice cracks. He slips his beer carefully into the cupholder as his sole focus shifts to Eddie. His finger traces along Buck’s jawline again and Buck has a moment of denial, sure that he’s imagining this. After all this time, after all of their tiptoeing around each other there is no way that they’re going to take this next step.

Except they are. 

Buck reaches out a hand and gently cradles Eddie’s jaw, his thumb moving in a pattern similar to Eddie’s, hesitant. He watches the way that Eddie leans into his own hand slightly and being able to see Eddie’s reaction helps to settle Buck’s nerves, just a little. His eyes flutter closed as he angles in towards Eddie, feeling the whisper of Eddie’s breath against his face. The scent is a mix of beer, s’mores, and something that can only be described as Eddie. Their lips remain a hair’s breadth away, lingering there in the quiet, the only sound being the sporadic pop from the burning logs on the fire.

“Dad!” They both pull back slightly, the moment shattered. Eddie lets out an uneven breath, and Buck’s eyes widen slightly now that the promise of finally kissing Eddie has slipped away. “DAD! I have to pee!” Christopher calls from the tent that’s only a short distance away, his voice breaking them away from their silent trance.

“I-I’ll be right there, Christopher,” Eddie chokes out and he offers Buck a nervous smile as he moves to the tent. Buck watches as Eddie helps Christopher out of the tent to take him to the bathroom. Buck drops his head into his hands. His heart is thundering in his chest and his hands feel unsteady. 

The minutes drag on until Christopher and Eddie reappear and Buck smiles softly at them. Christopher walks over to Buck and wraps his arms around his neck. “Hey, what’s that for?” 

“I’m glad you came with us, Bucky.”

“Me too, kid. Me too.” He places a soft kiss on the crown of Christopher’s head.

“Come on, mijo, back to bed.” 

Christopher sighs unhappily and mutters, “Okay, Dad.”

Eddie returns a few moments later, and he seems to sit down beside him with uncertainty this time. He looks nervous, eyes focused anywhere that isn’t Buck’s face. Buck studies him, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. Maybe he regrets making the first move. Maybe he’s thinking of all the reasons this can’t happen, the prospect of ruining their friendship. Maybe it’s better that it didn’t happen.

Maybe.

Buck wants to look away, wants to pretend the bubble didn’t completely break when Christopher called for Eddie. As much as he wants that, Eddie’s features tell him otherwise. There’s a hard set to his jaw and his brow is furrowed as he stares into the flames.

“Buck, I’m sorry,” he says finally. Buck’s eyes close briefly and he watches as a mask of regret washes over him. “I shouldn’t have-”

“I’m not.” The words stumble out before he can reign them back in.

“What?”

“I’m not sorry,” Buck says quietly as he studies Eddie. For the first time since he rejoined Buck by the campfire, Eddie turns his head and actually looks at Buck. He sees worry etched in Eddie’s features and Buck wants to reach out to smooth his thumb over the creases, a promise that everything’s okay.

“You’re not sorry?”

“I’m not,” Buck reiterates firmly. He knows it’s a risk, but it’s one that he has to take. “I’m only sorry that Chris had to pee.” He watches as the hard lines disappear, a quiet snicker slipping past Eddie’s lips. Buck places his hand over Eddie’s lightly, his thumb tracing an invisible line.

“So you’re really not…” Eddie trails off slowly, eyes lowering to where Buck is rubbing his thumb against Eddie’s forearm and wrist. “You’re not having second thoughts?”

“I’ve wanted this for…” Buck lets out a breath nervously as he turns his body completely towards Eddie. “For longer than I’d care to admit. I never even knew that this was on the table, but now that I _know_ that it is, Eddie. I don’t want to unthink it. Unless,” he pauses, observing Eddie’s reaction, “that’s what you need from me.”

“No, I—no.”

“Okay, then…” Buck nods slightly, reaching out a hand to cradle Eddie’s face. “I’m going to kiss you now.” 

When he leans into Eddie’s space, their noses brush lightly and he hears Eddie’s breath hitch. Buck slides his other hand up Eddie’s arm until it rests at the nape of his neck, urging Eddie closer. Eddie’s reaction to his touch is all of the encouragement that Buck needs, capturing Eddie’s lips with his own. The kiss is firm and needy, Buck’s tongue pressing against Eddie’s lower lip. 

Eddie’s groan is muffled by Buck’s lips, parting his lips without further prompting. The positioning is awkward in the camping chairs, trying to stay connected and press further into each other to eliminate any offensive space. Buck nearly grumbles as their lips part. He moves out of his chair, crouching down in front of Eddie’s chair so that they’re level. Before Buck can move any closer, he feels Eddie’s hand grab his t-shirt by fistfuls, dragging him closer until his weight crushes against Eddie, lips and hands exploring. Buck finally breaks the kiss, breathless as he leans his forehead against Eddie’s, hand resting against Eddie’s chest, feeling his heart thrumming rapidly beneath his fingertips.

“Well…” Buck whispers breathlessly, dragging his fingers through his hair in an attempt to compose himself.

Eddie grins at him then and Buck considers kissing him again, but forces himself to remain upright and not move back into his space. “Still think you don’t belong here?”

Buck hums. “I’m not sure I’m convinced yet,” he teases, his lips turning upward into a content smile. Eddie leans forward and places a chaste kiss against his lips. Buck’s sure as soon as Eddie’s lips sweep against his so tenderly that he’s never belonged so completely before; the missing piece in someone else’s life.

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream at me or prompt me on Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/myemergence)


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